Analysis of New Jersey's policies

In New Jersey, the factors used to determine which teachers are laid off during a reduction in force consider a teacher's seniority in the context of "standards to be established by the commissioner with the approval of the state board" and cannot consider "residence, age, sex, marriage, race, religion or political affiliation."

Recommendations for New Jersey

Require that districts consider classroom performance as a factor in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions in force.New Jersey should give districts the flexibility to determine their own layoff policies, but it should do so within a framework that ensures that classroom performance is considered.

Ensure that seniority is not the only factor used to determine which teachers are laid off. Although it may be useful to consider seniority among other criteria, New Jersey's current policy puts adult interests before student needs.

Exiting Ineffective Teachers

How we graded

LIFO policies put adult interests before student needs.

Across the country, most districts utilize "last in, first out" policies in the event of teacher layoffs. Most states leave these decisions to district discretion; some states require layoffs to be based on seniority. Such policies fail to give due weight to a teacher's classroom performance and risk sacrificing effective teachers while maintaining low performers.

Policies that prioritize seniority in layoff decisions can also cause significant upheaval in schools and school districts. As teachers who are newer to the classroom traditionally draw lower salaries, a seniority-based layoff policy is likely to require that districts lay off a larger number of probationary teachers rather than a smaller group of ineffective teachers to achieve the same budget reduction.

States can leave districts flexibility in determining layoff policies, but they should do so while also ensuring that classroom performance is considered. Further, if performance is prioritized, states need not prohibit the use of seniority as an additional criterion in determining who is laid off.